Son of the Shining
by IchigogichI
Summary: Mysterious man of unusual origin meets the Abhorsen
1. Chance Meeting

**(A/N: Lirael's poor technique with ringing the bells will be addressed, and I will not upload the next one till I know I have readers, so post a review)**

The Abhorsen Lirael drew Saraneth, smelling and tasting the tang of free magic and sensing Death. A rustling was heard coming from the trees surrounding the clearing, "That won't work you know," a voice of a young male, no free magic had been inside his voice, so it may have been something else... no, the voice came from the same direction as the sense of Death.

"Who are you?" Lirael shouted to delay as she called upon the Charter.

"Neither the bells, nor your ability with the Charter would work against me, I am at a whole new level," the voice rang with Charter for truth, "I mean you no harm," Charter for truth and surrender, "I am simply one who was born in Death, yet truly lives in life," a thud came from the direction of the voice as the young man jumped out of the tree.

Lirael put away the bell, but still drew on the Charter, keeping a spell for binding and fire ready to slow him down should he attack

A Charter light flared into existence right under the tree, "I shall only come closer if you permit it," he added a seemingly redundant Charter for truth. The light brightened a bit to reveal the form of a young man, that the voice would seem to belong to, "Reach out with your senses, though you will find that though I am associated with Death and Free Magic, you will see that I am alive and use the Charter," he added the last part to emphasize the redundancy of the entire statement.

He was not lying, Lirael felt the life within him, "Come closer," he had a heavy aura of Free Magic, but the smell faded away and was replaced with rosemary, a familiar smell that she couldn't quite place why it felt uncomfortable, "What are you?"

As he got closer she noticed he was pale and had deep black hair, covering his forehead, he wore bandages covering his entire body, she assumed as he was wearing pants, excluding his neck an up, "I'm not entirely sure as to the what, in my 17 years of living I have not learned much more than I told you. I was a still-born, and had gotten to the Seventh Precinct of Death when Astarael awoke," Lirael suddenly remembered why the smell of rosemary made her uncomfortable and she bent over and vomited, "Yes, you met her, my mother as I call her. She decided she liked me for whatever reason and pulled me out of death, reuniting me with my body and gave me the breath of life. I had been left where I died on the road, the woman who gave birth to me dead and reanimated as well as her husband. My corpse however was left behind, thought of as unsuitable by the many Dead and even the Necromancers Hedge and Chlorr. I wandered off, eating rotten fruit falling off of trees I survived for over a month, then a traveling merchant picked me up on one of the many occasions I had cried out of my loneliness. He had broken off from his group to travel alone in his retirement to find himself a nice place to settle after Orranis was sealed. He raised me in secrecy, knowing the tang of Free Magic, but also knowing I was a child. When I was five he gave me a Charter mark on my forehead hoping to counter the smell of Free Magic, he was relieved when it was replaced with the smell of my mother, rosemary," He sat down, "After he died, I went into Death after him, I don't know what I planned to do when I found his spirit, but in I went. There I met my mother Astarael and she gave me more power and sent me back into life after explaining it all. I began to wander and now here I am"

Lirael blinked twice at the unbelievable story and shook her head, "Do you really expect me to believe that story?"

"Believe, don't believe, all the same to me, but you need an explanation as to why I smell of Death and Free Magic even though," Charter for truth began to mix in his words, "I am human and I am not a necromancer"

"Well why don't you just repeat the story using the Charter for truth you so like using?" she asked exasperated.

"Because that would take away all the fun," he chuckled.

"Well, regardless, I'm going to check your Charter mark to see if you are corrupted," She was about to push his hair out of the way to check but he grabbed her hand.

"Could you leave my hair in place but just touch my whole forehead, I've got a nasty scar I would rather not show"

"I guess so," She slipped her hand under his hair and felt the familiar Charter, and felt some she didn't recognize.

He pulled her hand away, "Satisfied Abhorsen?"

"Yes," she took a gulp of air and sat. He sat with her and immediately a large amount of Greater Dead began to form up around them.

"Not again, third time today guys, how many times do I have to send you back to death?" Lirael went for her bells and the young man held out his hand, "Not gonna work,"

She took out the bell anyways, Saraneth, the Binder.

"Ok, just to let you know, these guys are attracted by my power and some of them are able to draw on it," He grabbed on a loose end of the bandage on each forearm and held.

She took out Kibeth as well and began ringing them in a formation of various Charter Marks of Binding and sending. The command was clear but she spoke the command with Free Magic, blistering her lips and singeing her tongue, "Return to Death and walk swiftly to the Ninth Gate and beyond!"

Some of the weaker ones obeyed, squirming attempting to break free of the spell, but they went through. Some stayed, not even being pushed back into Death, just like the young man said, "Just like I said, but more than I thought stayed, no matter, I shall bind them and prevent them from drawing on me anymore, and I shall channel their power into the River, sending them on a swifter journey, I'm tired of these particular ones and I need some sleep," He tugged on the bandages, causing them to come off his arms, showing off Charter tattoos covering his arms. He clapped, sending off a shock-wave filled with Charter marks, this injured most of them, but did not stop them from gathering materials to make themselves Mordicants.

"This is impossible!" Lirael screamed, "They cannot be doing this! A necromancer would need to create the bodies and summon them!" She looked over at the young man who had blood profusely dripping from his forehead, down his face. She looked at her hands and saw blood there as well.

"Sorry, my scar bleeds in the presence of Dead, as I just said," he closed his eyes, summoning up Charter marks as he continued speaking, "I encountered these particular ones twice today and several more in between, they've been coming since my mother increased my power by becoming one with me, she wasn't able to pour all her power into me as it would cause the River of Death to flow in my wake, only did enough to make me able to see into Death permanently. But anyways, they're collecting my blood now so I'm gonna..." He closed his hand around the spell, Lirael knew only one Charter Mark in it, the Master Mark, the powerful one that sealed the spell, the same one she used to prevent the Stilken from escaping the room. The Charter Marks on both his arms lit up and so did the ones on his torso under the bandages, connecting the two. The same spell began glowing in his other hand and he threw the two at the various Dead collecting mud and branches. The spells struck the ground, at first silently then a loud bang and bright flash of light came out as the spell unraveled it's many Charter marks. The Charter Marks on his fingers began to glow, strings of Charter wrapped around the now weakened Dead and connected to his fingers. He yanked up on the strings and clasped his hands together in front of his lips and muttered a few Charter. They flowed down the string to the Dead, went into them and disappeared, a few seconds later Free Magic began traveling up the strings back to him. He pulled his hands apart and clenched them into fists, the strings tightening on the Dead, "Do it, do it now!" he barked.

Lirael snapped out of the daze caused by the dead building themselves and repeated what she had done earlier. The young man pointed at her mouth when she hesitated on saying the words and a Charter spell shot at her.

"It dulls the effect of Free Magic, NOW!"

She shook her head, "Return to Death and go to the Ninth Gate and beyond!" she rang Saraneth in a triangle as the young man swiftly repeated what she said with more Free Magic in his words, his spell somehow rode on her ringing of Saraneth and he released the strings. The Dead fading back into Death.

He fell to his knees and clutched his chest. He stood, "Work is not done yet, can't collapse into a heap till it is," he held his hands together as if in prayer and began muttering, the bandage rewrapped itself around his now-burnt arms, burnt from the sheer amount of Magic, both Charter and Free he had used. The bandage glowed and his arms had healed. He then restored the bandage and created a large amount of small complex Sendings. He muttered a bit more and a headband of Charter appeared around his forehead, the blood on his face retreating into it. He opened his eyes, "The Sendings will take me to follow you" He collapsed, the Sendings catching him and forming themselves into a cot made of Charter with a billion tiny legs.

Lirael sighed, wishing she had one herself.

The young man raised a hand and traced a Charter symbol in the air, it floated over to her lips and healed her.

She sighed, "It's gonna be a long night," she yawned and lay down, the battle had exhausted her too much to head back to the Abhorsen house.


	2. Repercussions

**(A/N:If I get seven readers as shown by reviews by the time I upload the next chapter, Sept 14 2011, I will upload a new chapter every Tuesday and Friday till it is finished)**

Lirael walked along, the sun had fully risen, what had begun as a night stroll away from Abhorsen house had turned into a fight against a large amount of Greater Dead. The seventeen years since the binding of Orannis had been relatively peaceful. It had been over a month since the Abhorsen had been called upon to do her duty, her nephew, Sam had created something that relayed messages instantly from the Palace to the Abhorsen house, something he said was similar to a telephone from Ancelstierre.

Lirael looked back at the Sendings carrying the young man and sighed because she reached the river. She leapt to the first stone and looked back at the still-sleeping man, "How is he supposed to get across the stepping stones?"

The Sendings multiplied and formed around him, stood him up and caused him to motion for her to continue on.

Guess that's how she silently thought to herself. She jumped to the next stone and the Sendings made his body follow suit, the movement was so fluid and smooth that Lirael could hardly tell the Sendings were doing it, and if she didn't know better she would have thought the Sendings had some other reason to cover his body. They had finally made it to the house and the Sendings had returned to their bed-form and carried him into the house. When the Sendings of the house appeared the bed formed up into a human shape and touched hands with the Sending that greeted them and after a moment the Sendings that the young man created unraveled. The Sending drug him off in a way Lirael was sure would have upset his Sendings and she went off to her bath.

Nick came into her bathroom, "Who is that young man that the Sendings are bathing?"

"Oh, hello Nick, I-"

Nick interrupted her, "Were you out all night with him, tell me!"

"Oh, Nick, I am mildly impressed, and disappointed that you would believe something so petty without searching him out with your senses, first off, the first thing you should have noticed is the slight tang of Free Magic covered up by the smell of rosemary, and you know why I don't like the smell of rosemary right?"

"Something to do with one of the Sh-"

"One of the Shining, yes, now, the second thing you should have noticed was the fact that your sense of the Dead goes wild around him, as if he were Dead, but you know this is not the case as he is here, now tell me, why is your primary concern if I was cheating on you with him?"

Nick opened his mouth as if to say something but the phone rang.

"Ugh, why does he have to call at such a time, when I am finally beginning to enjoy my vacation!" She leapt out of the bath and grabbed the phone as Sam was cross when she did not answer quickly, "YES, my nephew," she said with a growl.

"Well, geez, you don't have to be grouchy about answering, in Ancelstierre the proper thing to say when you pick up is 'hello'"

"Really don't have time for this," she growled.

"Ah, yes, well, turns out the vague rumors of a Free Magic creature summoning the Dead has recently elicited a response from a few necromancers who have sprung up in the area the rumors are coming from, and as I said last time, there are less rumors, but the people are still fearful,"

"Yes, yes, and we don't need the Abhorsen eliciting a response of panic, etcetera, etcetera, get to the point!"

"Well, you don't have to be rude, what, did you take a nap that I woke you up from, well excuse me, do you want me to tinker you up a bed that conveys my voice into a psychic message you can receive in your sleep?" Sam snapped.

"I'm very sorry, it's just either we can do something important or I could relax as time that we waste wastes time for one of those, and I don't want to waste time on either of those," Lirael said rubbing her temple.

"Ok, sorry, a group of Necromancers sprung up and they killed all those in the towns where the rumors started, presumably looking for evidence of the creature so they may take its power, you heard of anything like the creature in the bestiaries you read?"

"For the thousandth time Sameth no, but I believe I found the what began the rumor,"

"Lirael that's amazing, well, go on,"

She explained about last night and the young man.

"Unusual, dead rising on their own," Sameth went silent for a moment, "Keep this man under close watch, he is not Dead, and he is obviously not a Necromancer, but he is dangerous, even more so if his story is true, I will consult the Clayr on him, if they See anything, did he give a name?"

"No," Lirael replied.

"And you didn't reveal his name with the Charter?"

"I was awfully tired," Lirael said with a sigh.

"Yes, well, I believe you on that, I missed mum a lot, and dad as well, and they were both glad she retired... say, have you and Nick...?"

"Thankfully not, we felt we weren't ready for a child just yet, even with the lull," trying to hide the sadness in her voice as she inadvertently reached for her belly.

"Well, back to business, the unfortunate part about the towns that were destroyed is the same reason the rumors were dismissed, out of the five towns the Southerlings made, three of them were the towns the rumors started in, there was a fourth town of ten people that was separate due to the segregation the Southerlings wanted, but they were killed as well, sorry if it seems I am taking their deaths lightly, just saying it like it was written, I need to have Ellimere demote someone, I'm sending the coordinates the towns via fax," she heard a click which she had always assumed meant he had turned off his end.

Charter marks spilled out of the metal box and burned the coordinates into the paper in front of it.

Something leapt out of her pocket and ran off, Lirael looked at it just as the mini Sending the man had made slipped under the door. Nick moved to chase after it but Lirael held up a hand, "It's his Sending, it's what carried him here, the Sendings of the house talked to a large group of them, they seem to get along,"

"So, work has come up then?" Nick stated more than asked.

Lirael nodded, and kissed him, touching their foreheads together, "And what will you do?"

Nick grumbled at this a bit, "Stay here and keep the Sendings busy,"

"Good man, how'd you get so amazing?"

"You mean agreeable? I sometimes wonder that myself," he looked at her breasts, "Oh, right,"

She giggled gave him a kiss on the cheek and pushed him off, "Come off it, we don't have time, I have to head out right away, there's no telling how delayed that message was due to the fact they don't have that thing," She pointed at the phone and fax machine set.

"It's called a phone," Nick teased, Lirael quickly rinsed off the bubbles from the bath , dried and got dressed.

The house shook and an explosion was heard, as well as some shrill screaming, Lirael noticed something about the scream and grabbed Nick, biting his lip just before the sound of Astarael sent him into Death.

Lirael pulled away, and dashed off, throwing open the door, "What the bloody hell was that?"

"Astarael, I have a feeling our house guest is none too happy about something," Lirael ran down the hall towards where the sound had originated.

Lirael burst into the room where the young man was, he was sitting nude leaning against the bath twitching with his pants in hand, covered in soot as were the remains of the room. He was panting heavily and Lirael saw Charter marks covering his entire body except his manhood, moving and shifting like the Charter marks on his arms were last night.

Lirael glared at him, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

"Your dirty Sendings tried to take my pants to be washed!" he growled, breathing slowing down.

"Oh, well that's very mature, blowing up the room because the Sendings were going to clean your dirty laun-"

"They're all I have left of my father!" he interrupted, "His leech siblings took everything else,"

Lirael stopped, "Oh," she said with a gulp, "Well, please do not destroy anything next time," he nodded clutching the pants tight.

"Well, we have to go, come on, we have to get some Necromancers that destroyed the towns where rumors of you happened," he nodded and the bandages quickly wrapped around him and he slipped on the pants.

She led him to the Paperwing and climbed onto it and motioning for him to follow, he looked at it and chuckled as he shook his head. He whistled a few marks and the bandages readjusted themselves so his hands and feet were exposed. Marks of wind and flight glowed on his hands and feet and he slowly flew up in the air, "Glad we don't have to walk, but there's no need to burden your Paperwing,"

She sighed and whistled, the Paperwing taking off, him closely following behind.

They flew quickly towards the coordinates, so fast they ran into a patch of Gore Crows. The man blasted them with fire, all of them turning to ash. They set down, looking around for the Necromancer. A large number of Shadow hands sprung up and attacked and Lirael pulled Saraneth and Kibeth out, ringing them both, "Go to the Ninth Gate and beyond!"

Much to Lirael's relief, all of the Dead complied.

"Why must you dispel my servants fellow Necromancer?" he saw the Paperwing, "Ah, Abhorsen," he chuckled nervously from behind the solitary oak tree.

"Hello, your lot ran away for the most part after the binding of Orannis," she said with relief that these Necromancers were so inexperienced they couldn't have possibly been past the Second Gate.

"Funny that Abhorsen, as it seems you are with the largest source of Free Magic since Orannis was bound," he came out from behind the oak and bowed, "Master, I live to serve you,"

The young man shook his head, "Whether it is out of fear, or greed, I do not care which, but I shall use the power of my aunts, Saraneth, and the recently departed Disreputable Dog, Kibeth,"

The Necromancer's eyes grew wide, "No!" he shouted, Free Magic in his voice.

The man opened his mouth, the sweet song of Saraneth mixed with the marching riff of Kibeth, Free Magic filled the air as the command was clear, die and do not come back.

The Necromancer drew his sword.

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><p><strong>To TheMysteriousNamelessWriter: Sorry about the delay, I forgot to keep checking back for readers, I uploaded this the day after I saw the review, it's nice to know I have fans.<strong>


	3. Reliablity

**(A/N: as the deadline has passed I shall only publish every Wednesday, however, as soon as I get 18 people reading, as shown by reviews I shall publish every Tuesday and Friday)**

The Young man's hair flew into the air, revealing the bleeding scar under the five Charter Marks that were constantly changing on his forehead, using the persuasive song of Saraneth he halted the Necromancer while he was pulling out his sword, "Now, who are your comrades? And where have they gone?" he shouted.

Charter fire flowed through his veins, Free Magic saturated in the air, the others were around, he knew this, he wanted them to find him as he was disgusted by the Necromancers who manipulated Death and Life, the precious thing he was given by his mother, and the domain his mother had rule over.

"What are you?" the Necromancer asked his sword halted in the air, the same question rode on Lirael's lips as Death itself crossed the border into life, filling pockmarks in the ground and freezing the ground around it. He wasn't just calling the Necromancers, he was calling Death and every Free Magic being around.

His eyes turned white, "My name is James, and I am the most powerful mage, Charter or otherwise, you shall meet on this side of the Ninth Gate, go now, or I shall submerge your still living spirit into the Sixth precinct for a while before sending you to the Ninth Gate!"

The Necromancer nodded, plunging his sword in his chest.

"May Death find peace in the fact you are no longer perverting Life," The River faded and his hair fell back down over his forehead.

Lirael drew Nehima which had been remade, "What are you?"

He tutted sternly, "Lirael, I told you my story, and even after that show you are still thinking something else is true? I am so disappointed in you, I didn't think you this foolish, let me guess, you're thinking, 'maybe he could be something less terrible than a son of Astarael would be, after all, Astarael does not tread the Earth lightly and therefore, something must be happening for her to have a son' and the answer to your question is exactly what you feared, I am truly the son of Astarael, and yes, something big is happening," his eyes returned to normal and he blinked twice, "Ugh, I hate it when I do that," he shook his head, "Instead of the River being shady in the background it makes Life being shady in the background," he sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. He collapsed, struggling, he stood back up and dusted himself off, "No, I called the Dead, Necromancers and anything that is of Free Magic for miles, I must continue taking responsibility!"

"Sounds good to me," the Hrule that appeared next to them said. James turned to face it and it clubbed him with his large hand. A Stilken appeared across from it and hissed at the Hrule, "Back off, this one's mine!" The Stilken screeched but did not make a move to attack it, instead looking to Lirael.

Lirael froze, fear overcoming her and she fought to move, the Stilken leapt at her, a scream cut through the air...

James held up a hand with two fingers smoking, he pulled himself up off the ground, "Living is such an irritating thing, don't you think, well fret not I shall relieve you of that annoyance soon enough!" The Hrule leapt at him, not wishing to lose his prey, not knowing it was the opposite of what he thought. James pointed at the Hrule and a thistle shot at it, the Hrule flailed mid-jump and was hit by the thistle, returning to the earth. The Stilken cried out in victory, recovering from the burn and leapt at him, James mirrored it and grabbed its hand, kicking it in the chest, green blood spilled from the stump that was once its arm, it screeched at him. He leapt on it, its flesh became covered in ice like his feet, he grabbed its head and shouted words of Free Magic, it screamed in fear of what was to come, it froze and shattered. He looked at where the Stilken once was, his mouth moving and then he looked to Lirael, "Fear," she came out of her daze, "Is quite common, though not for an Abhorsen, especially for the Dead and Free Magic creatures, what's wrong with you?"

"You're joking right?" Lirael said, shaking.

"Well, the Dead I can understand being afraid of in this situation,even for an Abhorsen, but why were you so afraid of the Stilken?"

She shivered and told him the story.

"Ah, there's the problem," James looked up at the fading sun, "This is not good, night-time," James grunted, clutching his bruised arm, he muttered a healing spell with the Charter, and the bruise softened. James chuckled and grabbed the loose ends of the bandages like the night when he and Lirael met, "I don't want to do it like this, as I will have to sleep for a few days, sorry Lirael, our journey to the Glacier will take much longer due to this," he returned to the state he had been in before, white Charter fire began burning on the River, "Found you, this will be quick Lirael, what comes after, not so much, it shall take four days for me to wake up after this, I will still have power but Astarael was the second most powerful of the Shining and her power takes a toll on a human, body and spirit, body can be fixed easily, it's spirit that will take the rest," he screamed, the pitch of his voice steadily increasing, he pulled the bandages and they billowed out from all over his body, tendrils of Charter and Free Magic flew out from his body, shooting out in all directions, some of them came back, carrying the spirits of Necromancers. He plunged them into Death, he returned to normal, falling to his knees, "37 Leagues, I think I broke the record for the longest distance a Charter spell has covered," he chuckled, falling face-down in the mud of the bog they were in.

His Sendings covered him and when they had trouble lifting him from the mire Lirael almost laughed because they had assembled into stilts as well as covering him, unsteadily wobbling around. Lirael grabbed her Paperwing and the Sendings formed a rope leading to the Paperwing, making surprisingly light cargo they took off easily, leaving the bog.

Lirael turned for the north, looking for shelter with running water at least around one side, leaving the Great Sickle Wood she found a stream south of Chasel with what appeared to be the remnants of an old wood shed in the middle of it. She called it good and set down, closing her eyes as soon as her feet hit the wood, the Sendings sling-shot James over the stream and onto the floor, the ones that remained surrounding him all moving to cushion the impact. She chuckled, feeling James fall down next to her and drifted into sleep.

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><p><strong>To MysteriousNamelessWriter: here's the update, although it is shorter than I wanted it to be... oh well.<strong>


	4. Mirror

**(A/N: Yes, the dreaded flashback episode, don't worry, I won't flash back onto the books, that would be stupid, we've all read the books, and that's why we're reading this, and it is a week late because my Grandma took me on vacation, and I couldn't get to work on it on time, etc etc)**

Lirael waited after waking, and stayed awake through the night, going to sleep once again after the sun had risen, then she slept through the day and woke just before the night, as the sun began fading, walking to ease her soreness and prevent her from going stir-crazy. On the third day, she had decided she was going to check his story in Death. She sat next to his body and took out Saraneth and the Black Mirror, and pushed through the barrier between Life and Death. She felt the icy water tugging at her feet and opened her eyes, seeing James in Death, floating on top of the river, sitting.

"Oh hello Lirael, come to check on me?"

Lirael tilted her head, confused, "Wait, how are you here?"

"I told you, I'm always in Death, I have to be conscious here to prevent Dead from finding my spirit and attacking it for the spark of Life within, don't you remember seeing ice on my feet when I woke up after the Sendings started bathing me?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

To be quite honest she was too startled by the only spot on his body that didn't have Charter symbols on it to notice his feet.

"Well..." she said blushing.

"Yes yes yes, you're married and don't want to admit you were looking, I know why you looked, and I won't misunderstand unlike your husband, so I won't mention it, it'll take a bit longer than I thought," he muttered.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Oh, my recovery, well, you obviously aren't here to check on me, since you didn't know I would be here, so why are you here?" he popped his back, rolling his head around on his shoulders.

"Well, I wanted to check into your past," Lirael said quietly.

"I'm not gonna stop you if that's what you're thinking. But I will warn you, it may be more terrible than you imagined," he sniffed, and a Lesser Dead leapt out of the water at Lirael, and he shouted at it, it flying away. He muttered a Free Magic spell, and Lirael felt a bit of warmth for a moment and felt the Dead go towards the first gate and heard the faint rushing stop as it went through, "Don't worry, I won't let anything get you, you're kind of the only thing out with my body, and I get ever so lonely, so I kind of need you,"

She chuckled lightly and looked into the Mirror with one eye, keeping her other trained on him to keep herself in reality, "I want to see his past" she told the mirror, and it took her into the river, she felt time slip backwards, but saw no signs of it, the seventh precinct, she felt the differentiation in the water and saw a tiny spirit hanging onto something in the River, not quite Dead yet. It was small and deformed, but was still shaped like a human, the fingers of it had gone away and it was staying on this side of the gate just barely keeping from slipping through the fire. Then Lirael smelled it, rosemary, she looked up and saw the terrible towering form of Astarael, who reached down in the water and picked up the spirit.

"My child! You who died before Life and waited for me at the Seventh Gate shall return to Life as my son, you shall have a great mission in Life, as Orranis shall try once more to rise, this time in desperation, it is far from hastily put together, but he shall do something he considers shameful, something drastic, something to get around his binding, I shall give you Life once more, and I give you my love," She looked down at Lirael and smiled, looking back at the spirit, "The Abhorsen will help you," She breathed on the spirit, shrinking considerably, down to just a large woman, and the spirit regained human form, "Now go!"

A new scene formed, an infant wandering a forest alone, killing small animals with Free Magic and eating them. He sat down, beginning to cry, Lirael heard footsteps, a small bearded man with gray hair and streaks of white was walking along a path, once he heard the crying he ran towards the infant, scooping him up. He coaxed the infant to silence and took him by a small creek and began a fire, he tore pieces of cloth off of his clothes and cleaned the infant in the creek, then he swathed the infant in the cloth, holding him tight. He stayed awake the entire night, holding the infant in his arms.

The scene changed again, a small house with a wood stove, the infant had become a small boy, barely more than a toddler, the man's hair had gone mostly white, and his beard was longer and more grizzly. He ruffled the boy's black hair, revealing a glowing Charter mark, the boy smiled, "So Daddy, this means I can go outside and make friends now right?"

He smiled and coughed twice, "Yes of course,"

It showed him trying to make friends, the children mocked him and threw stones, only for the stones to explode into flames without touching him. Parents shielding their children yelling at the old man to keep "It" away from their children. He shook his head, and the boy began making friends with the traveling merchants, becoming increasingly sadder and sadder with each "good bye" he cried many nights, his father comforting him.

Eventually he was a young boy, looked around 10, he had three Charter marks on his forehead, shining below his short hair on his forehead, he was standing at his father's bedside, wearing the pants that he had on now, the legs were rolled up and he had a belt on, clutching his hand, "Never lose hope," were his last words, his hand went limp in the boy's.

He cried, "Life is not the cruel one Dad," his eyes grew dark, "Death is!" He hefted the body onto his shoulder and took it to the basement and gathered silver and Mahogany, binding Free Magic to them he created a set of Bells, and went into Death. He looked for his father, then Astarael rose out of the water.

"My son, seek not of Death, but of Life, go back and do not pervert the nature of the world, your father is gone, let him go in peace," her form faded till she was the same size as the boy, and his Charter Marks glowed even brighter, "Now, I go to the Ninth Gate and beyond" the vision vanished and Lirael came back to reality.

"Well, you've been in here for a day or so now, how are you?" James asked.

She fell into the River and was almost swept away if it wasn't for James who caught her and pulled her completely out of it. She shook her head and he set her down, allowing her to stand on her own, "Thank you"

He nodded, looking further into Death, "You must be hungry,"James commented.

Her stomach growled and she nodded.

"My Sendings went to get food, and they're building a fire, they've carved out the symbols for a Diamond of Protection and it just waits for you to pour your power into it," the water splashed, "The Diamond of Protection is more for your sanity than safety, no Dead are going to cross into life while I'm here," a Greater Dead passed the First Gate, moving towards Life and James closed his eyes and a lightning bolt moved along the water towards the Dead, it howled in pain and a large wave built up in the water, and washed it back past the Gate, "The last thing you saw, was my mother giving me control over the Precincts, to a point,"

Lirael nodded and moved back into life.

* * *

><p><strong>TheMysteriousNamelessWriter: the late update was not your fault, I only wanted a single review to show I have a reader because I wanted to make sure I had a reason to write, from now on only review if you have something to say about a past or the current chapter, sorry this was late, I promised an update every Wednesday, and from now on, I'll stick to it<strong>


	5. The Glacier

**(A/N: ha, I am not late this time, I usually deliver, and next week, because I got this done early, I may upload 2 chapters)**

Lirael saw James had woken up and the Charter bandages were off, "Well, I bet that took longer than you thought," he commented casually.

"Oh, how long has it been since I went into Death?" Lirael asked.

"Apparently I was off by a day, been about two days" he looked up, "And it's sometime around noon,"

He stood and helped Lirael up, "So, what is it we're doing now?"

"Going to the Clayr," he patted her on the back, "I'm sorry, but your Paperwing is pretty slow compared to how fast I can travel, fortunately, I can take it with us, quick, imagine where we'd land at the Glacier," he closed his eyes and put his hand on her head and his other hand on the Paperwing. His lips started moving very quickly, and Charter Symbols and the stench of Free Magic came from his mouth. She hurriedly thought of the Glacier as Charter symbols encased them and began spinning. Lirael felt a sensation like lifting in the air, and falling at the same time, and the Charter marks spilled away, vanishing, and they were there, thousands of feet above the Glacier.

Lirael's and James's ears began popping as they fell, James holding tightly to the Paperwing and Lirael as she panicked. James's mouth began moving again, Charter spilling from his mouth and they slowed to a stop, a foot off the Glacier, and instead of James holding up Lirael and the Paperwing, they were holding up him. They landed and James shivered, more from exertion than the cold.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Lirael screeched.

"The teleportation or the falling?" James asked, rubbing his arms, when the Charter cloth covered him once again he relaxed.

"Yes!" Lirael said shivering.

"Well, Death and Time go hand in hand, and Time and Space go hand in hand, so I just simply bent both to my will around us and here we are, I don't like using it because it takes a lot of energy, much less than what I did to kill all the Necromancers, but still, a lot. And the falling was because I didn't want us stretched out over the entire place you imagined, so I had us move into the relatively empty space far above it, and we are here for two things, the Clayr to tell us what to do, and to take care of your little fear problem," the Clayr came out onto the platform they landed on and James moved the Paperwing with the others.

"We Saw you, son of Astarael, conveniently it is almost time for the awakening of Lirael, Sanar's child," Lirael's eyes grew wide at this.

Ryelle came forward, "Sanar is getting her ready, she named Lirael for you, obviously, she Saw you would be at her child's Awakening and thought it a kindness to name her for you, so that you could hear your name called at the Awakening," Lirael cried and Ryelle held her.

She began laughing, the tears not stopping, many of the Clayr stared at James, whispering to each other. It seemed to turn into an argument and settled down after a bit, "I get the feeling I am not going to like the point of agreeance," James muttered.

Lirael looked to James, wiping her tears, "What?"

He pointed to the now silent Clayr who were looking at anything to avoid his gaze, and blushing.

"Yeah... is there a polite way to turn down a Clayr?" James whispered into Lirael's ear.

"Not for a single man," came her reply.

He was visibly upset by this, "Then we'll have to get in and get out before they can go after me, they'll all attend the Awakening right?" Lirael nodded and he calmed down a bit, he sighed, "Good, we'll go to the Awakening, ask about what we're supposed to do, take care of your fear, then leave,"

James hunched as he followed Lirael into the Glacier after the Clayr.

They sat through the Awakening and then asked the 49 Day Watch what they saw.

They were taken to the library and sat down, "We have Seen," they said in unison, "We Saw your initial Awakening," one of them said pointing to James, "We Saw you slay the Stilken," another said pointing to Lirael, "We Saw your journey," "And we Saw the Destroyer rise again," "We Saw his new form," "But not his defeat," They all began speaking in unison again, "We See many futures, but only one where the living roam, we must work to achieve this one that we See. Lirael, you and James must go to where you sealed the Stilken, and you must destroy it, then, you and James must go to the Red Lake, where Orannis was reburied, and defeat him in his new form!" With that, they simply left.

James looked to Lirael with his mouth open, then he shut it, "So, take me to the room the Stilken is in," Lirael nodded slowly and drug her feet down to the room.

She hesitated at the door, realizing she didn't have her librarian bracelet, and went to turn back, when the door opened, Lirael turned to see James with his hand on the door, "You're not getting out of this that easily, you were once one of the Clayr, you know better than to doubt their Sight,"

Lirael froze, fear ran through her body quicker than her old sadness. Fear of solitude, fear of pain, fear of the Stilken.

James growled deep in his throat and Lirael then realized a new fear, fear of what he was. Son of Astarael. She was the Abhorsen, she was supposed to have domain over Death, but she had very little power in it compared to him.

He walked in and the stench of Free Magic was unmistakable, her seal was wearing away, "a bit over 20 years isn't too long in consideration of magic, but, plenty of time for a Stilken to wear away at the seal a bit. But, you're the Abhorsen now, you should be able to kill it with Free Magic," he coughed lightly then added under his breath, "You were only a child then," as if he were not a child himself.

He began to change, white Charter Fire dancing across his arms, the black fire of Free Magic leaving his lungs with every breath, he not only wanted the Stilken to fear him, he wanted it to obey him. He held the thought in his mind of commanding complete fear and obedience of the Stilken, and let the Free Magic do the rest. He exploded in black and white flames, the warmth of the Charter, and the unease of Free Magic both spilling throughout the area, Lirael's fear of the Stilken faded, replaced with fear of James, his power seeming nearly as horrible as Orannis in his second form.

He became tall enough to touch the ceiling and crack it with his newly grown black horns, he had large feathered wings as black as night, his skin, a pale pasty white, a pale bat-like face on his head, and Charter Marks dancing along his torso, the pants he had from his father had grown with him, Charter Marks swirling in endless formations, his hands and feet were clawed like an owl's. He took the room in one giant step, leaning down he smirked at Lirael and touched the seal with a single finger.

The seal vanished, the Stilken appearing below the tree, Lirael shuddered at what the terrible beast had unleashed. Her golden hand was, however, glowing more brightly. He pointed at the Stilken and then pointed to Lirael, his mouth curling into a sneer, "Fetch," the single word echoed from his mouth, and the Stilken dashed for her. She drew Nehima, which immediately flew out of her hand, "Face your fear, and defeat it yourself!" he held Nehima in between two fingers like a toothpick, so ready to snap.

The Stilken leapt at Lirael, and she screamed, words of Free Magic, destroying it. He smiled with approval and stood, beginning to shrink rapidly he walked towards her, when he got to her he was back in his human form, "There are greater things to fear than a Stilken, and even greater things to fear, than me,"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Lirael screamed fearfully.

"I believe, my true form, as a creature of Charter and Free Magic, much like Kibeth, my mother was Free Magic alone, although, that was due to the fact that Charter did not work in her presence..." he trailed off.

"Wait, you're a Free Magic being?" Lirael asked.

"Well, only half, and the other half is human you know," he looked up to where his horns scraped the ceiling, "Ooh... sorry, I know this library means a lot to you and all" he redirected his attention to Lirael, "Well, time for us to go" he grabbed her by the hand, and led her out of the library, and ran through the maze of the Glacier, heading towards the Paperwings.

They were stopped by the group that met them, "We Saw you,"

"Yeah, I know, horrible right?" James said with a chuckle.

"We Saw you, in our beds," they said with a smile.

"Yeah, well, it couldn't be today really... right?" he pressed trying to get around them.

"Only today, when we the Clayr celebrated Lirael's Awakening," they giggled lightly.

"Oh crap..." He said halting.

"We Saw our children," they continued.

"Yeah, great, so you must know that my kids couldn't be Clayr," he said as they moved to form a partial circle around him.

"Yes, but we also Saw, that they will lose their father," he stopped trying to get away, "For you will die, before they are born,"

"And you need my bloodline because it is one of the Seven?" they nodded.

Lirael sighed and started walking back to the library.


	6. Pieces of Mom in Death

**(A/N: terribly sorry, I am really late, no excuses, just procrastination and by the time I realized I had procrastinated too long it was Tuesday night, and this isn't as long as I want it to be, what would be the end of this chapter will be next chapter, and I deprived you of it and I am so so sorry but I will not be able to upload it till next week, the good news is the chapter after that is really short, so I may actually upload 2 chapters next week, for reals this time, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this addition)**

James entered the library, his hair ruffled, his body covered in the Charter bandages like usual, but he had on fine leather gloves, tabi and a hooded shirt, all covered with Charter.

"Gift from the mothers of your children?" Lirael asked.

James nodded slowly, not speaking, his face was mildly flushed and he motioned Lirael that they were leaving.

"Hey, you ok?"

He nodded.

"Well, why aren't you talking?" he turned so she could see his face, and opened his mouth, and croaked. Lirael giggled, "Was it too much for you?"

"Well, fighting the Dead was easier than pleasing that group of girls," he rasped.

She put a hand over her mouth to stifle further laughter.

They began climbing the staircase, Lirael was having trouble keeping pace with James, panting behind him, "If fighting the Dead is easier, how can you climb these stairs so quickly and easily?"

"Fighting the Dead is really easy, it's the staying awake that's hard," he coughed lightly.

Once they got outside he reached into his shirt, and pulled goggles and a scarf out from an inner pocket, "Your family is really good at making things, your nephew made that cool Ancelstierrian machine with Charter, your cousins make some really good clothes," he put on the mask and scarf over his face and flipped on his hood.

Lirael glared at him, he recoiled and threw a Charter spell at her, she began feeling warm instantly and smiled at him.

He nodded and lifted into the air with the assistance of his new gear, Lirael was sure he was grinning behind the mask.

"First stop, Abhorsen house!" he shouted to Lirael as she got onto her Paperwing. She whistled Charter notes and began to lift into the air, James circled impatiently and began muttering Charter. The notes began spilling out of his mouth and made a string leading to the Paperwing, "Your Paperwing is far too slow, at least for how fast I can go!"

Lirael began whistling Charter notes fast, trying to make sure that he wouldn't drag on the Paperwing too hard. Lirael heard maniacal laughter and realized he had only been slow before because of his vulnerable face, Lirael began to reach into the Charter for a spell that would protect her from debris, discovering that James already sent one at her.

She heard a message with the spell, "You have to maintain the spell which is why I didn't use it before,"

She held onto her Paperwing tight, the notes she was whistling intensifying as she prepared for the speed boost.

There were a few loud sonic booms and Lirael closed her eyes, fearing the worst, another set of booms and she opened her eyes and saw that they were above Abhorsen house. They began to circle, going in for a landing, James set down in the rose garden, dragging the Paperwing down behind him.

"Ok now, Lirael, we need to go into Death," James said.

"Why? And we can't do it here, there's a reason the river was split for this house!"

"I know, which is why we need to do it on the stepping stones," James remarked.

"Wait, who's we?" Lirael asked worried.

"You and me, I need you with me to help with the Dead," James stated.

"But you have control over the precincts!" Lirael said fearfully.

"To an extent!" James corrected, "You are the Abhorsen, the one who is meant to keep the Dead down, my children will be your helpers, the ones to make your job easier!" he bared his teeth, Free Magic seeping out.

Nick came running out of the house, wielding his unnamed Charter sword.

James's left arm transformed into its true form, and he slammed the palm of his hand next to Nick, the river of Death formed around him, "Do you wish to test your fighting ability against the full power of one of the Shining Mr. Sayre?" he paled in fear.

"Don't worry Nick, he's just asking me for help!" Lirael shouted to him.

Nick didn't stand down till then, lowering his sword and sheathing it, with his eyes on James, scowling.

James turned his arm human once more and he shook it out, "Man, now that I've been in my true form once, this body feels so confined!" he said with a groan, "It's worst right after, well, let's go then, to the rocks!" he grabbed a fig from the tree on the way to the Western edge of the island.

"You know, the other set of rocks were closer!" Lirael shouted to him as they got to the stones.

"I know, but going this way allowed me to snag a fig on the way, and this side is the West, where the sun sets, the short amount of extra time between there and here could mean the difference between being followed and having to quickly leap across a gap to a new stone and getting away while they're still weak!" They had gotten to the wall, "Sun sets to the West, that means shadows to the east, you should know this, you're the Abhorsen!"

Lirael blushed, embarrassed she didn't think of it herself.

Both of James's arms transformed, one picked up Lirael and the other reached to the top of the wall, grabbing on and lifting both of them, James surveyed the stones and picked the biggest one he could see, large enough for two people to lay comfortably and have a fire. He bent his arm till his feet were set on the island, then he held Lirael in both of his cupped hands and began changing them back to human. He set Lirael down and groaned as his sinews slid back into place on top of his now human bones. He went to wipe his forehead and found he had inadvertently grown his bull-like horns and grimaced as he retracted them, the island could hold two people, but not a transformed Free Magic creature.

James sat and patted the area right next to him, "We go in Death together, but I lead the way, I haven't gone past the third precinct since I was brought to life, so I don't know what could be brooding past there," Lirael sat with him and he took off the all his clothes except his pants, "I will be carrying you through Death," Lirael opened her mouth to protest, but James stopped her, "You'll understand when you get there," James just closed his physical eyes.

Lirael searched for the barrier between Life and Death and found it not being closed, it was easy to enter Death. She stood in the River and looked to James, he looked taller than he did in Life, she saw why when she looked at his feet, on top of the water, he held out a hand for her, "What's with the barrier between Life and Death? It's not there, as if someone recently died!"

James sighed, "That's how they come into Life after me, as I am in Death and Life always when I am physically awake, there is no barrier near me. When I go to sleep, the barrier immediately returns, which is why when I was awake the Dead came, but when I was asleep they didn't,"

"Then why do you go without sleep?" Lirael questioned.

"Because if the ones who go after me aren't at least sent beyond the Second gate they can return to Life with my power, I always check to see how far they go, and sometimes, well, they escape my notice, and if they cross into the First Precinct again, it's already too late for me to stop them, because at that point I have to wake myself up so that they don't attack my physical body, now come on, now that I have my true form it's easier to control Death," Lirael didn't want to find out the hard way what he was about to do so she leapt into his arms.

He screamed into Death and a deep rumbling was heard from just behind them, Lirael was afraid to look, but looked anyways, a giant wave, far larger than any she had seen in Death before, was rising, James stood on his toes on the water, he leaned forward in a running position and skated forward at incredible speed towards the 1st gate, the wave just behind them, carrying all the Dead in the Precinct with it.

"Wait, someone needs to do the spell!" Lirael shouted at James as they approached the gate. The pathway simply opened.

"Yeah, as far as I can tell, I don't need to," He leapt over the pathway into the Second Precinct.

Lirael dug her fingers into his back, panting heavily, "You're gonna be the Death of both of us!" she shouted. He readjusted Lirael so she was riding piggyback.

"Nah, but, this Precinct will be a bit harder to do the same thing, dragging the Dead behind us, now let me concentrate," He closed his eyes, his muscles tensing, he screamed into Death again, the scream echoing from many places, "Hold on tighter for this one, the entire Precinct turns into the Gate"

Lirael opened her mouth, but closed it when she saw the water slowly beginning to spin, it spun faster and faster till the water rose on the edges, then the middle began sinking, many Dead getting caught in it, then it came, the sound of the whirlpool's bottom falling out, Lirael screamed as she saw the second gate at the bottom, James stood on his toes and ran to the right as the whirlpool circled left. He spiraled down and down, finally reaching the bottom then going through to the Third Precinct.

"You didn't do the spell!"

"Relax, this one's easy, just let it do it's work," James walked leisurely along, the Dead flooding in behind them. Many of the Dead chuckled at how easy the ones who were alive were making it now.

Lirael began panicking when a giant wave swamped the Dead... then simply passed over James and Lirael without touching them. Lirael looked down at James's feet and saw that what was happening now was quite the opposite as before, his feet were touching the ground, but the water parted around him, the wave opening in an arch above them.

"This one always made me think Necromancers need to be in pretty good shape to survive, some nights I would just sit around here and laugh at the ones who were too slow or foolish, I made friends with one of them at one point, he seemed young, and foolish, like I was when I tried to bring back my Father, he never brought about any Dead, for about a year, and every Friday we met here, I thought I might actually... you know, love him, till one day he asked me to demonstrate the extent of my power, he knew I naturally repel the water, but he wanted to see me do more, he didn't want anything natural, he said he just wanted to see if I could do it," He paused, chuckling, "I was foolish, like I thought he was," James fell to his knees, tears falling only to be swept away, blocked by the invisible force keeping them dry, "He betrayed me, he asked me to stop the waves here, completely, for a short time, I thought that it would be fine, he was so excited whenever I talked about how the water parted, I always felt connected, I thought by then he only entered Death to meet with me, my weeks would be sent with just waiting to meet up with him during the night and during the day I would head to where I thought he was, it always seemed to change, as if he was deliberately relocating himself," he shook with sobs, the waves no longer carried Dead along, all of them had been washed down the river, "I just figured he just happened to travel a lot, came from a trader family and traveled to meet up with them," he sighed, getting back to his feet, "Anyways, I stopped the waves, and felt a large amount of Dead immediately enter the Precinct, and before I could start the waves back up again, he tossed Mosrael at me, my natural powers nullified its effect on me, which would be to send me further into Death, but it sent the Dead to Life, he cackled and began to ran, but he wasn't fast enough, I punched through him, completely mangled his spirit and sent him flying, I felt him going through the gates and he went beyond the Ninth and I couldn't feel him anymore," He began to walk again, "That's when I decided, I would not only not help Necromancers, but I would speed them to the final gate!" his footfalls got heavier and he started leaving small holes, fires of Free Magic deepening the holes further.

"Umm... James?" no response, "James? James? JAMES? JAMES!"

James shook his head and stopped leaving flaming footprints, and the flames sizzled out, doused by the river without further fuel. James cocked his head to the side, "What?"

"Uhh... Nothing, just, calm down," Lirael noted to herself the placement of the holes and also noted to add to the Book of the Dead that the potholes were there.

The mist that was the Third Gate completely vanished for a moment as James with Lirael stepped past, a single wave got through before the mist closed.

In the Fourth Precinct the Dead were scattered all over based on their strength and when they got thrown through the Gate, James hopped twice on top of the water experimentally, "Hmm, easier than the First, harder than the Third though, but then again, the Third all I have to do is just walk," James chuckled and tapped Lirael, "I'm gonna need you to get in my arms again, in case how I go through the Fifth is unsafe for you, so I can transform my arms and hold you in the air while you call the Dark Path, but, I'm gonna be squeezing you tight so you don't get away between here and there," Lirael rearranged herself to be in his arms and he lifted his right leg, the River began flowing around him, none of it was at his feet, just like in the Third, "THIS ONE IS LIKE THE SECOND!" he screamed before slamming his foot down. A Lesser Dead leapt out of the River at them as he slammed down his foot. As soon as he slammed his foot, the River went under him and he floated up again.

Before Lirael could ask what he meant the ground flipped 90 degrees, going straight down, gravity took effect on the Lesser Dead and it fell. A platform made out of water extended out on the falls.

"In that the entire Precinct turns into the Gate, now, let's test something..." He moved a foot to the side and began to move it down and a new step leapt up to meet his feet, he stepped off the previous one and it dissolved away. He chuckled and began running, zig-zagging down the waterfall, steps rushing out to meet him before he fell down. They finally reached the Fifth Precinct and James looked at the River doubtfully and slowly set his foot on the surface, it held. He walked out onto it and immediately regretted it, he could feel all the way to the next Gate, but he couldn't feel further down than a couple of feet. He froze, he couldn't feel the Precinct itself, so he reached out with his sense of Death, and there was a large Greater Dead just past what he could feel... no, it was multiple Greater Dead which had changed so much that they were able to fuse with other Dead, he began shaking, "Lirael, start the spell!"

He began growing and grew to nearly twice his size, then stopped.

"No," he suddenly felt it, a tentacle, shooting straight for him. He looked down to see if he could see it yet, and he saw something unusual, something that shouldn't exist in Death, his reflection, on the water, "What the?" he felt his power growing and releasing still, but he wasn't growing and he wasn't changing. He continued looking at his reflection, and it began to change. The tentacle redirected for what seemed to be his reflection, it grabbed the tentacle as it grew horns and claws, and it roared, the river began to boil, the tentacle withdrew.

"Don't think it's over, GET THE HUMAN TO SAFETY!" his reflection shouted at him.

"Oh, right,"

"I can only move my arms dependent of you for now, we need to power up more before I can fight this thing without you moving me for us!" it shouted. Free Magic fire surrounded him in a ring, black and white, he grew more and Lirael motioned for James to toss her in the air. James nodded, hurling her as high as he could, she finished the spell, the Path materializing under her.

"GO!" James and his reflection shouted in unison.

"I am most powerful in this Precinct, it has to do with Mother, the reason you can't feel the River itself is because this one was so vast it was split between us! Two consciousnesses, two bodies, one shared power, it lasts twice as long when we are as one, but is not lessened which is why you would need to regenerate by sleeping, you would try to use it all at once, when you were too inefficient to, I had the other half while we were in your body, and you never asked because you couldn't, you'd end up feeling drained and I would have to channel it into you, slowly to not put you into shock, but quick enough so you wouldn't die. Right now their consciousnesses are conflicting, bickering on what to do, they have Mother's power which is why we feel frightened by it. But, WE MUST NOT BE AFRAID,"

They began to speak in unison, "FOR WE ARE THE SON OF ASTARAEL, AND WE ARE UNITED!" They held their hands over their head, Charter fire appearing in James's hands and Free Magic fire appearing in his reflection's, "ASTARAEL HAS DOMAIN OVER DEATH, WE ARE ALL THAT IS LEFT OF HER, THEREFORE THIS IS OUR DOMAIN, WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THIS UPSTART WHO IS DOING NOTHING NEW, STEALING OUR MOTHER'S POWER!" they inhaled deeply, "AND WE WILL NOT LET THEM KEEP IT!" they sustained the last word, both letting loose their power, uniting on both sides of the surface, then moving towards their target in a spiral. James felt what he felt and saw it. It was a horrid beast, looking like pieces of octopus and squid and other such marine animals all sown together, all the tentacles from the beast came at them, 23 in all, but they faltered when the corkscrew of flame flew past them, then they decided to slow it down, several repeatedly grabbing at the flame but shying away only to try again. The flames did not stop. The beast screamed when it was hit, the tentacles separate from the part that got hit continued on while the others went back and tried to slow the flames. The tentacles got close to them, "NO! YOU CANNOT TOUCH US WITH YOUR UNCLEAN SPIRIT, WE SHALL CLENSE YOU WITH FIRE!" Fires rose around them, stopping the tentacles. They took a step forward, more fire pouring into the creature, the fire spreading and engulfing it. They pointed to the creature, "You were foolish to think you are the strongest, just because you have Mother's power," the sound of Astarael echoed through the water to the creature. They began to split off each other in confusion in fear, hearing the sound but not realizing it wasn't affecting them, "That's right, run from your superiors!" they breathed in heavily, "I call upon the power of Astarael," A pale gray light glimmered and flew away from the remnants of the creature, it split into black and white, the white going into James and the black into his reflection, James grew white wings and his reflection grew black ones, gray flames of Magic gathered at their feet and his reflection pulled him under and he flipped to be upside down from what he was before, they joined hands, separate flames dancing at their feet, black and white, "Astarael!" it was more powerful than the bell, but more controlled, limited to all that is in the River, and the large Dead conglomeration moved to the Ninth Precinct.

They smiled at each other then climbed to the surface of the water, James began growing antlers, "Ouch, you're a walking symbol of death... Mom has domain over Death, so why am I growing antlers and have... Dove wings?"

"Well, maybe Mom wasn't always a symbol of Death, Death goes hand in hand with Time and Life, so maybe she has a bit of domain over life?" he shrugged.

"Eh, I guess, oh, by the way, what do I call you?" James asked.

"Jesam," he said with a smile.

"Anagram of James, nice, well, let's go greet Lirael," James said with a nod, and they both took off, flying up to the Dark Path and running down it towards Lirael.


	7. Ultimate End

**(A/ N:Whoohoo, my internet is back, whee, sorry, I cannot allow my pride as an author to rest, so you must wait in suspense another week :D the good news is, I am starting another as this one will end soon)**

Lirael fought off a lesser Dead that had not changed too much from human form, it was easy towards the Ninth Gate.

She sensed something behind her, Free Magic and Dead, two of them, she turned, Saraneth at the ready. It was James and his true form, she tilted her head to the side at James's antlers.

"Hello, this is Jesam, my true form thing, he's a separate personality in my body, and he only fully manifests in Death," James explained.

"We just collected a piece of our mother from the creature who attacked us, that is how it had so much power, we sent him all the way to the Ninth Gate, there he shall go through, now shall we?" He motioned for them to go further and Lirael nodded. James picked her up as Jesam went ahead to the waterclimb.

Jesam stuck his hand into the waterclimb and the entire Precinct flipped, all the water falling through to the next Precinct, James, Jesam and Lirael fell with it, Lirael screamed.

They landed in the Sixth Precinct and all of the Dead backed up uneasily with fear. Jesam snapped his fingers and the ground in the precinct vanished, the fall of about 300 feet happened quickly and they landed safely in the Seventh Precinct, Jesam raised his hands in the air and flames appeared on top of the water, surrounding them, but never touching them, the flames vanished and they were in the Eighth Precinct. Jesam clapped his hands, chuckling, "Clap off!" he chortled and it all went dark as if they were going through the Eighth gate, no sound nor anything could be felt. They appeared in the Ninth Precinct, "Ultimate end, look up"

Lirael, James and Jesam all looked up, nothing happened for a bit then they all looked to each other, "All right, what now?" James asked.

Jesam pointed up to the stars, "You notice something weird about one of them?"

James looked, and one looked to be getting bigger, "What is that?"

"Mother's last piece, it's getting closer, not bigger,"

It got larger and larger till it consumed the sky, a pale white and black mass, "Are you sure it seems to be getting bigger, not closer!" James said, leaning back in fear of being crushed.

Jesam held his hand above him, palm up and he caught the ball, "Look, fine," it pulsed then vanished, James and Jesam both feeling more refreshed.

Jesam smiled at James and shut his eyes. James and Lirael woke up in Life, on the stone James had designated, the sun was quickly vanishing.

James picked up Lirael, "There's no time!"


	8. Only Half

**(A/****N: AHHH HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? I really should stop making promises I can't keep, oh well, sorry, been really busy, getting into college, which I start on November 28, and also work, freaking work, I have a freaking job, and I kind of forgot about this till I was going to the library and was copying files from my computer on to my flash drive I had the very beginning of this one and went "oh shit" anyways, I finished this, this is the last chapter [if you do not include the epilogue, which I will eventually do] and it's been a fun run)**

James flew away from the large stone and it burst with Dead, Lirael looked down fearfully at the dead that had just come out, they began to form together to reach and wrap around them, James closed his eyes, muttering, lines of Charter flowing from his lips, wrapping around them. The Dead caught up to them, bouncing off the set borders created by the spell. Lirael felt the Charter, very powerfully. She had closed her eyes without noticing. She opened them and saw the Charter, infinite, yet not, they were in a black gap in the charter, a large hole. There appeared to be a ground, but nothing discerning to indicate this, it felt very solid. She found James, Charter dancing around him, he was filling the hole in the Charter they were in, new marks flowing from his fingertips. What looked like large prayer beads began appearing around his neck, wrists and ankles. Charter coiled up and filled the empty space, symbols slowly appearing on the large beads.

He finished muttering and fell to his knees panting and chuckled, "Hold on a minute, I need to recuperate a bit," he sucked in, "The Charter itself is working to help me win, heh, why shouldn't it?" he chuckled lightly.

"What are those?" it seemed fairly obvious what they were to her, but she wanted to clarify.

"Charter stones, small ones, connected by a thread of very powerful charter, a little bit of protection, after all, it's not every day the destroyer rises once more," James stood, "Come on, we have used up enough time already,"

"Wait, how did we get into the Charter?" she asked.

"Ah, my teleportation spell that I used, it has another version, one that I made that does not require my blood, not as quick, but it takes less power, also, mages such as yourself can use it, I would say that I'll teach it to you later, but I have to go die again, very sorry," he said with a sigh.

Despite all the respect he had for Death he still joked about it, what else is he supposed to do?

She pat him on the back as he began to mutter, the Charter began moving and he reached up and touched a symbol, they appeared on the shore of the Red Lake, the sun had set, which did not matter as there was a storm blotting out the sky, lightning repeatedly struck the spot Orannis was reburied, and there was a large hole in the ground, there was a man in there, just one, no Dead or anything, he was the only visible person around.

"YOU ARE LATE SON OF ASTARAEL, ORANNIS SHALL RISE AGAIN AND DESTROY YOU AND ALL LIFE! I AM THE SACRIFICE, THE ACE IN THE HOLE, LAST RESORT, SEEMS IRONIC FOR THE GREAT DESTROYER TO RELY ON LIFE TO RISE AGAIN, EH?" he looked into the hole, lightning striking more often, "You know, Orannis didn't want it this way, but he wants out,now," He leapt into the hole as 7 lightning bolts struck. The stink of Free Magic became stronger, heat radiated through the air and the man came flying out of the hole.

Smoke came out of his every orifice and his eyes had been replaced with the black fire of Free Magic, "You tiresome humans, don't you ever get bored with stopping me?" he said in a slow drawl.

"Well Orannis, I see you entered a shell, were you afraid to come out of the closet?" James said with a laugh.

Lirael shrank, is this how it is? For those with such power, ready to face their death?

"Cute, I always liked Astarael, but she got in the way far too much, she had the second most of our power, but, still nothing compared to me," He chuckled, "But, you are not Astarael, you are clearly her son though, and I find it most amusing that you are using Charter stones, what, you need Belgaer as well? Even though I have the lesser half of my power, those two alone will not beat me!" he laughed.

James spoke words of Free Magic and black fire spewed forth from his hands, creating a large wall behind James and in front of Lirael, turning into a circle and extending out just past the hole, "Time to go back in the ground!" James growled.

"Know your place worthless human!"

"Funny, it seems that you need a lot of 'worthless' humans to do your bidding, otherwise you'd still be in the ground, you should know by now, you are able to be freed because of humans, what? Too weak to do it yourself so you have to get a human to do it for you?" James challenged snidely.

"SILENCE WORM!" two lightning bolts struck him and he flew at James.

"ASTARAEL!" James shouted, a sonic boom knocking back Orannis.

"What?" Orannis said turning back to James.

"Astarael's power is a lot more than you believe," he chuckled.

"Fool, that proves nothing?"

James licked his index finger and pointed to Orannis "Death," he opened his hand and the river of Death came forth, crashing into Orannis, sending him flying into the hole, "The Destroyer, Orannis, getting pushed over by something as simple as water, because no matter how much he tries to deny it, he is trapped in a human body, and has not had any training to use it, sure he has great power, but he is an awful arrogant fool! James began to pant and sweat, the river pouring more powerfully. He grew a horn and an antler and one of his eyes turned pitch black, his skin going pale, he was a shade of grey by the time, "Jesam, what say you we finish this mouth breather quickly?"

"I couldn't agree more!" the hole was almost filled with Death.

Orannis leapt out of the hole, the human body falling apart, "Oh dear, did we ruin your plan? If you emerge from the body now you cannot be whole"

"Drown, drown little man, drown in the power of your lesser," he raised his left hand and white Charter fire spilled forth, engulfing the man.

"ENOUGH, I CAN DESTROY THE WORLD WELL ENOUGH AS IS, I WILL RAISE MY OTHER HALF ANOTHER TIME!" a burst of flame came forth from him, barely fazing James/Jesam. The body crumbled and a sphere appeared, much smaller than he was before.

"Oh, Orannis? Did you lose weight?" James/Jesam taunted.

"SILENCE MORTAL!"

"WE WILL BOTH GO TO THE ULTIMATE END!" they leapt upon him, fingers sinking into the ball, burning their hands as they did.

"FOOLS! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING!" a blast of flame hit them, but the pressed on, the Charter stones humming, the sound intensified as Charter began to flow around them both, pushing them both towards the pool of Death.

"Really?" they said taking a deep breath, "Then why are you resisting going into the pool of Death?"

They touched the water and it sucked them in, they sunk to the bottom, struggling the entire way.

"ASTARAEL!" they fell into the fifth precinct, the pool of Death following them.

The water in the Precinct began boiling as Orannis began to fight to break free. James/Jesam held tight and began singing all of the Charter at a very high speed at a very high pitch, he did so repeatedly, a bind forming around Orannis. Jesam slowly began to separate from James, pulling away, James tried pulling back on him, "I need you!"

The bind finished, "Two of the seven will not be enough to bind half!"

"IN DEATH IT WILL BE, FOR THIS IS THE DOMAIN OF ASTARAEL," Jesam yanked Orannis away from James, "A life for a life eh?" he chuckled, "It's been good my friend!" he saluted and chopped Orannis in half with a hand.

James gripped his chest as he felt his other half dying. He blacked out.

He woke up in Lirael's lap, her tears falling upon him, he grabbed onto her chin, "Why are you the one crying? I'm the one who lost his other half," Lirael smiled through the tears and hugged him.

"I thought you had died!" Lirael sobbed out.

"Stop crying, Death is a beautiful thing, to be respected, and I have a feeling that your extended family is going to want me back..." he said with a chuckle.

"Why?" she asked, wiping her tears.

"Well, nine months from now, they'll want another set of kids from me, the ones I would have with them now would probably be Clayr,"

Lirael laughed.


	9. Epilogue

**(A/N: I'll just leave this here and pretend it hasn't been forever since I made an update and over a year since I added to the story )**

James sat in the bath with the nine children from the Clayr that were his, and his alone, the bath was large enough that they weren't crowded. He had a comparitively smaller house than the Abhorsen house, much smaller, but big enough, a good sized room for each of the children, except the twins, who wouldn't allow themselves to be separated. A few of them had started actually talking, all of them have had their first words. They were his the moment they were weaned, their mothers had taken care of them till then, then they bestowed this great gift upon him. He loved each and every one of them, he relaxed in the bath. They were all calm when in cool water, they didn't cry fight, nor were upset. It was a hot day anyways.

He looked down to his feet, it was still odd to see them unfrozen, since Jesam died, the river of death was no longer visible to him while awake, he didn't attract the dead so much and everything was calm, it was all good. The Abhorsen finally got that vacation she wanted, and James had found he has plenty of help constantly from his children, who guarded death with him while asleep, no dead had even gotten into the first precinct other than their initial deaths, the children had learned to control free magic well before they even spoke their first words, him and his children were certainly an unnatural brood. They never dreamed, when they slept they went into death to keep them down. And they were happy. Nearly all the children had dark black hair, though all of them had pale freckled skin.

Kerry was a nice girl, always asking her daddy how she could help with chores, she was the strongest, born first by 15 days.

After that was the twins, the Clayr saw fit to name them Lucifer and Venus, they were a powerful combo, each only just a little bit weaker than Kerry, and they were always together, even holding hands in death, as if they were afraid to be separated, but they were powerful alone, and undefeatable together, on the night before their second birthday they banished a mordicant level dead beyond the ninth gate.

Then there was Jaron, 7 days after the twins he was born, he liked cats, and wasn't too good at banishing the dead, he often cried when the dead came close, which is normal for a normal child, but it always seemed odd from James' own child.

Three days after Jaron came Sarah, she had blonde hair and was halfway between the twins and Jaron in power, Jaron was Seen to be intelligent, Sarah was too be a genius, already showing signs of this, she has yet to talk, but her mastery of free magic and the charter was almost as good as many of the court mages, she didn't need to speak, and instead communicated with her magic, James laughed the day she walked up to him and whistled the Charter for request, and then cookie, he didn't even know there was a charter for that.

The next day there were two births, Claire and Carmen, Clair had red hair, Carmen had brown and they fought like cats and dogs, they sat right on the average in power amongst the children, not being too powerful, but not weak either.

Two days later the last two were born Thomas and Karin, they didn't speak nor communicate in any way, but they were proficient in Charter and free magics, simply staring as they send the dead back to where they belong.

Thomas and Karin dug under the house, calling the dead so that they can expel them, they seem to want to live in the area beneath the house, where the dead could stay forever without rest, where the sun will never touch. They sleep there and eat there when allowed. They enchanted the stone with the charter to give them a small amount of light. Jaron enjoyed Sameth's inventions, especially the Charter computer, they hadn't made a connection to the internet with Charter yet, but Jaron made it clear that's what he wanted, and he began working on it. Kerry was the social butterfly, she went out to make friends with travellers, but more often than not, she only managed to make friends with animals. The twins enjoyed the light and they loved swimming, often jumping in the river, much to James' dismay, and swimming against the current, they would often come home sunburnt. Sarah often spent time alone, meditating in the forest. Claire and Carmen spent all their time together, despite their fighting, and they would always compete, despite being little more than two years old.

James was happy, Orranis was gone, and there was peace. Life was good.


End file.
